Add the Northern Ontario Party to the controversy of a Liberal MPP calling Northern Ontario a No Man’s Land. Party leader Trevor Holliday wants Lou Rinaldi, a Southern Ontario MPP, to resign and for the Premier to apologize for the remark. Holliday says the comment is an insult to all northerners. Holliday says by Rinaldi calling the North a wasteland and the Premier letting him get away with it, it shows disrespect for Northern Ontario. Meanwhile, Rinaldi says he won’t apologize for his No Man’s Land comment. Rinaldi tells the Northumberland Today newspaper that the Progressive Conservatives misconstrued his comments. He says his comment was aimed at Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli claiming Fedeli was alone and in no man’s land with his opinion on changes to the Elections Finance Act. Rinaldi says this is not slamming the north.
However, Tory Leader Patrick Brown doesn’t buy it. Brown says this is the fourth version Rinaldi has offered since making the comment last Thursday. Brown says the MPP forgot to check that the reason this latest excuse doesn’t work is because Fedeli wasn’t in the Legislature at the time in question. Brown says people can watch the video and insists Rinaldi said what he said. But the video Moose News was sent doesn’t pick-up what Rinaldi said or in what context.